Conventionally, an electrical/electronic appliance to be installed on a car such as an automobile is provided with a number of printed circuit boards on which electronic components, ICs (integrated circuits), and other components are mounted. To the printed circuit boards, electric wires arranged to send and receive signals to and from other devices and other printed circuit boards and supply electric power to the printed circuit boards are connected. In order to make a transit connection between the electric wires and the printed circuit boards, circuit board connectors are used.
A circuit board connector is generally configured such that a terminal arranged to send and receive signals is housed in a housing. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, a conventional circuit board connector 70 is configured such that a terminal 72 arranged to send and receive signals is housed in a dielectric 74, the dielectric 74 is sheathed with a shielding shell 76, and the shielding shell 76 is housed in a housing 78. The terminal 72 has a horizontal portion 72a to be connected to an end of an electric wire and a vertical portion 72b that extends downward from one end of the horizontal portion 72a in a vertical direction, which makes the terminal 72 have a substantially L shape.
When a circuit board connector is provided with a plurality of terminals, the plurality of terminals are often arranged in a plurality of layers in a height direction because of space limitations and other reasons. In order to locate the lower terminal inside the upper terminal so as to be parallel to the upper terminal, the path length of the upper terminal is made different from the path length of the lower terminal. Thus, in a differential manner in which data is transmitted through a pair of signal lines, a phase difference occurs between the upper terminal and the lower terminal, which could cause a delay (skew) of signals.
There has been accordingly an attempt to prevent a delay (skew) of signals. For example, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-open Publication No. Hei6-079085 discloses a circuit board connector 80 in which terminals 82 are arranged in a plurality of layers in a height direction, as shown in FIG. 10. In the circuit board connector 80, an uppermost terminal 82a in a housing 84 is connected to a conductive region on a circuit board 86 that is closest to the housing 84, and a lowermost terminal 82b in the housing 84 is connected to a conductive region on the circuit board 86 that is farthest from the housing 84. Thus, lengths of the terminals 82 are substantially equal.